


Talking Flowers

by Tazzy_Ladynero



Series: Bingo Fluff Fun [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Flower Language, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Spoilers for Heavensawrd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 22:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19876936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tazzy_Ladynero/pseuds/Tazzy_Ladynero
Summary: Urianger has been receiving gifts of a carnation and tea from someone. Can he solve the mystery?





	Talking Flowers

The soft rustle of pages had become familiar over the long hours of research as Urianger Augurelt searched for some solution to their current problem. While white auracite was useful in taking out the Ascians, it didn’t help when there wasn’t enough energy to actually power the strange crystal. What the Scions needed was a way to disrupt the Ascian’s ability to transcend death by taking new hosts, but none of the books he had managed to look through had any information regarding their shadowy opponents.

Closing the latest book with a soft thump, he turned to put it back on the shelf only to freeze as something on the table caught his eye. Right next to where he had been sitting was a pot of tea with a cozy to keep it warm for him and a carnation. A red one to be exact. It wasn’t the first time he had surfaced out of his research to find a pot of tea and a carnation, but it was the first time it was a red one. Putting the book back down on the table, he picked up the carnation and turned it over in his hands only to blink in surprise at the blue violet that was tucked in the petals like a shy secret.

Admiration and a promise of faithfulness. That is what these flowers said, if he was remembering his flower language correctly. Moenbryda once used it to pass along little messages to him, but that was before the Calamity and her sacrifice.

His eyes flickered back to the teapot, a thoughtful frown on his face. Was the tea a gift as much as the flowers? The pot itself was a generic one that could be found easily at any marketplace for a few gil, and he had seen Tataru herself using one that was similar as the Lalafell poured over account ledgers as she worked to keep the Scions with funding. 

Shaking his head, he turned to put the book back on the shelf before he pulled another one off and returned to the table. This one was a plain journal with a simple lock holding it closed, and he pulled a key hung on a chain out from under his robes. It wasn’t that this was a secret or something he was embarrassed about, but it was private. Something he didn’t want to share with everyone who came across the book. Despite many appearances, Urianger was a private person who did not advertise every little tryst or kiss to the world. No one, the Scions nor those in the Circle of Knowing, knew where Urianger’s preferences lay when it came to any sort of romantic partner, which is how he preferred it. 

Opening the journal to the first blank page, he carefully pressed the carnation and its secret violet between the parchment, securing them with a simple spell until he could get some glue to keep them in place. Then he collected a quill, dipped it in a bottle of ink, and wrote out the date and what he believed the message was across the top of the page. Once the ink was dry, he flipped back to the first page with a simple white carnation pressed between its pages.The date was around the time that the Primal Ifrit became a problem the first time and soon after Cai’cout Lesier, the Warrior of Light, had joined their ranks. Truthfully, he had thought it had been Cai’cout who had been leaving the flowers, but there were a couple of times when the other Elezen was off in another kingdom and the flower had appeared with a teapot. 

Shaking his head, Urianger closed the journal and locked it again before replacing the key beneath his robes. As much as he wanted to get to the bottom of this little mystery, there was one thing that he seemed certain about.

He was being Courted by someone. 

It was a slow Courting, starting off with innocence and apparently getting to know him as the message fluctuate between pink and white carnations, sometimes together and sometimes singularly. This was the first time a second, different flower had been included in the message, and the way it had been tucked within the petals of the carnation, it seemed like a shy confession as if the individual was uncertain about how their messages were being received. Urianger would love to know who was sending these little messages just so he would know how to respond, but he would be lying if he did not say he was highly flattered by such gestures.

Only, he didn’t know how to find out who was Courting him to figure out if he wanted the Courting to continue. Thancred was out because not only was he dedicated to Minfillia, he was also far too attracted to the female form to look at a male Elezen. Yda was far too flighty at the moment as well as too entrenched in her current mask to think about something like this, and Papalymo was too busy helping Yda as well as keep her out of trouble. Y’shtola was more interested in the arcane mysteries, following in the footsteps of her teacher, Master Matoya, and the twins were right out.

Which left Tataru and Cai’cout. Neither one gave any indication that they were even interested in him beyond the same friendship that he shared with the rest of the Scions. Although both were eager to help him in his research with Cai’cout bringing back any tomes that were needed and escorting him to the Great Gubal Library while watching his back from the various things that had popped up to infest the grand building of knowledge. There had rarely been time for Urianger to open his own tome of knowledge before Cai’cout was there, lance whirling through the air and cutting down whatever creature had popped up. Tataru on the other hand made sure he managed to get some rest and was well supplied with meals and drinks when he entered one of his research marathons.

Urianger frowned as he shook his head again, rising to put the journal with its precious messages back on the shelf. He had a general idea about how to find out who was Courting him, but it was going to take a bit of time to put the needed materials together and a possible trip to the Gridania Botanist’s Guild. Something he couldn’t really afford time wise to take right now with the Ascians almost breathing down their necks, not without a really good excuse.

He looked at the bookshelves before him, stuffed to overflowing and yet without any of the answers he was hoping to find. The Elder Seedseer, Kan-E-Senna, was quite knowledgeable about the arcane, and the Conjurer’s Guild had several tomes that Urianger himself did not. Perhaps the answer would be found in them, and it would give him the excuse he needed to visit Gridania. 

Nodding now that he had a plan, Urianger poured himself a cup of tea, picked up another promising book, and dove back into his research. He would let Tataru know about his trip in the morning.

***

Tired and frustrated, Urianger walked into the Rising Stones with a carefully prepared bouquet in his arms and no closer to finding his answers in regards to powering the white auracite. Of course, he had made the Guildmaster of the Botanists extremely happy with his request, and she had poured over her flowers until she found just the perfect ones for his message. Now he merely had to determine which of those around him was actually courting him.

Tataru smiled as she looked up from behind her desk, and she bounced out of her chair, almost scrambling over to him in her excitement. Then she stopped with a slightly confused look on her face. “Why do you have flowers, Urianger?”   
“Tis both a test and a riddle for mine companions,” Urianger remarked with a small smile for the Lalafell as she frowned in confusion at his words. “A message the flowers spell for those with the ability to read it, but ‘tis an old message. One many hath forgotten in these days.”

“Flowers spelling a message?” asked Tataru, looking closer at the bundle in his arms before she wrinkled her nose at him. “I think you’re teasing me.”

“Flowers can say many things,” Cai’cout remarked as he joined them. He smiled at Urianger and gestured slightly towards the bouquet in his arms. Urianger held them out, curious to see what Cai’cout was going to do. The silver haired Elezen hummed as he examined the bouquet. “Baby’s breath for innocence or a pure heart. An iris means faith, valor, wisdom, and friendship. Edelweiss for daring, courage, and noble purity. Lavender for loyalty, love, and devotion. An assortment of rose colors to mean ‘You’re everything to me’, while the peach rose is modesty, the white one for innocence, and the burgundy for unconscious beauty. Held together with ivy which symbolizes fidelity, wedded love, affection, and friendship.”

“Which means what exactly?” asked Tataru, looking up at Cai’cout with an expression of curiosity and wonder as her eyes flickered to the flowers.

“If I were to guess, Urianger has decided to express friendship, admiration, devotion, and possibly even love to whomever the bouquet is intended for,” replied Cai’cout with a slightly wistful smile as he turned his attention to Urianger, holding out the flowers. “Someone is very lucky indeed.”

“Mayhaps, but the flowers are for the one able to divine the message held among their petals,” remarked Urianger before digging out a small flower that had been carefully placed in his pouch. He held out the small white violet between two fingers to Cai’cout, and the other Elezen’s breath hitched at the sight. “Does thou truly understand the message held in my hands?”

“Let’s take a chance,” whispered Cai’cout, before he grinned at Urianger as he reached out to close his fingers around the small flower. “How did you figure it out?”

“Thy confession just now made by thy own lips when thee properly deciphered the message of the flowers,” Urianger stated, his heart fluttering in his chest. It had been a long shot but it looked like his trip to Gridania had paid off in at least one way. He might not be any closer to understanding the white auracite, but he now knew who had been courting him. “However, a great mystery still vexes mine senses about thy flowers left with tea at mine elbow.”

Cai’cout exchanged a glance with Tataru who giggled and wandered back to her desk, a touch of pride in her steps as she went. “Tataru helped me,” Cai’cout confessed with a shrug as he grinned at Urianger. “I didn’t want to disturb your research in the beginning so she was nice enough to take in my flowers to you along with a pot of tea. Something she had done several times before so you wouldn’t be disturbed at all.” He shrugged again and stepped a bit closer. “Then it became a bit of a challenge when you never said anything about the flowers or the tea. I would bring the carnations to her and she would leave them during random intervals with her own contribution of tea.”

“Why did thou not simply ask me or inform me of thine intentions for a romantic relationship?” inquired Urianger, now understanding why every flower came with tea. At least that question had been answered, and now he had to figure out what he was going to be doing about a possible relationship with the Warrior of Light. 

“Because I wasn’t even certain if you were interested in such a thing, Urianger,” Cai’cout confessed with another slight shrug. “You’re a very private person and I respect that. You’re also brilliant, attractive, and loyal to your bones, and after the third carnation, I figure you were either confused about the entire thing or appreciated the puzzle you had been given.”

Because there was nothing more flattering than appealing to one's intellect, Urianger realized as he huffed a laugh. Truly, Cai’cout knew him better than almost anyone else save himself. There was a question in Cai’cout’s pale blue eyes, one that asked if Urianger was serious about his response or if there was a polite refusal in the near future now that Urianger was aware of the identity of his suitor.

Reaching out, he laid a hand callused from handling tomes and scribbling with a quill on Cai’cout’s cheek, gently pulling the other Elezen into a soft kiss that held a promise for more. Cai’cout made a startled nose before he stepped closer to Urianger, pressing their bodies together and wrapping his arms around Urianger. There was a startled huff from Urianger as the kiss was deepened, and a blush stole over his cheeks as he realized just how happy he was to be in Cai’cout’s arms at the moment. There was a distinct possibility that he was more than a little attracted to the Warrior of Light, and now he was getting permission to Court the Elezen in return.

“I’ve wanted to do that for quite a long time,” murmured Cai’cout, an appreciative smile on his lips and a blush on his cheeks. It was an attractive sight, and Urianger wanted to see if there were other ways to make Cai’cout blush. But the other Elezen was stepping back, giving Urianger his privacy again by not indulging in public displays of affection, before Cai’Cout tipped his head towards the door that separated the Rising Stones from Seventh Heaven. “Let’s get a bite to eat, and you can tell me all about your trip to Gridania.”

“I’m afraid ‘tis a very unsuccessful and disappointing visit in regards to our current problem with the Ascians,” sighed Urianger even as he fell into step next to Cai’cout. “I’m afraid I have begun to reach the limits of my known resources in such esoteric information.”

Cai’cout grinned and pushed open the outer door. “Then let’s talk about it over a hot meal and see if we can’t figure out something else.”

A hot meal, a handsome companion, and a knowledgeable conversation. That truthfully sounded like the perfect way to spend an evening.

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to say that Urianger is difficult to write mostly due to his flowery language that he uses himself. I just hope people like the story.


End file.
